The team has been closely following the community's feedback both in-game and here on the forums since we introduced Arktech Revolution and scaling to Defiance. Anyone who's been playing over the last few weeks can attest that there have definitely been changes from instant and constant Threat 10 to yesterday's hotfix which made all Threat levels now appear when they should both scaling up and scaling down. (For the new recruits who joined Defiance this week, be sure to read up on scaling (http://community.defiance.com/en/2014/03/28/arktech-revolution-the-march-of-progress/).)

From Creative Lead Trick Dempsey:

So, there were two major issues we attempted to fix, boned, and then actually fixed.

Players noticed that enemies outside major events were scaling and not providing a buff to the players nearby. This started happening suddenly and even then seemed to be random, consistent only in its inconsistency.
Here’s how it works: when we create an event, it looks through all of the encounters within it and asks them “Do you qualify for calculating threat level?”. If they say “yes” then the threat level calculator hat gets passed to them. We will call this “The Top Hat.” For all the events in the game, the Top Hat is given out for a few reasons. Sieges, Conflict Sites, and Co-op Maps are special, but dynamic events (arkfalls, incursions, and emergencies) all follow a similar pattern. The Top Hat gets handed to an encounter which says “Hey, I can display information to the player and I designate an area which is counted as part of my event.” This works great for all our dynamic events. This is how they were written.

Well. For all intents and purposes, the open world became convinced that it was a dynamic event. So! It passed the Top Hat to all the encounters in the world and asked “Is this your hat?” and eventually one of them said: “Sure is!” Then it all went to hell. People who walked into that encounter saw nothing wrong, which the whole rest of the world saw enemies scaling up “at random” to match the players that entered this encounter. For several days after the 1.505 patch, the encounter which took the Top Hat just never saw any traffic. Everything seemed to be fine. Then the internet gods grew angry, and the Top Hat passed to something with much more traffic.

We sat down with the open world over the past couple of days, had a nice cup of tea and a sit down, and told it to never do that again.

You probably already guessed the second major issue mentioned above: scoreboards. Earlier this week we pushed a fix to them that had an unintended side effect that we chased down and fixed.

Here's Trick with more details:

Some people have noticed that they were seeing players with high scores on events where they had no kills. This was happening because scoreboards were not using the same “kill” qualifications as scoring. (Scoring was very forgiving, which the boards were only counting last hit.) In group events, this essentially turned the kill count on the boards as a measure of ping rate more than anything else. We added a fix for this on Tuesday. This introduced the scoreboard bug. As it turns out, our update of the kill messaging added any player who got a kill to EVERY SCOREBOARD IN THE WORLD. So, after getting a kill, a player would then get the next scoreboard for any event completed... anywhere.

After some poking and prodding, we found the cause of this and put that silly little game of “red light, green light” to an end.

Now, while these two issues have been resolved, they did make gameplay remarkably difficult for a good chunk of this week. As such, we'll be giving one 50 Arkforge Cache to all accounts that logged in Wednesday or Thursday and our sincere thanks for your patience. Not familiar with Arkforge? Our Arktech Revolution article (http://community.defiance.com/en/2014/03/28/arktech-revolution-the-march-of-progress/) has the details. We'll be distributing the Arkforge Caches on Tuesday and you'll be able to find them in your Claim Items window.

Be sure to continue providing feedback on the forums and alert us to any unexpected game behavior.

UPDATE: We were able to execute the Arkforge distribution this afternoon. If you were in-game at 4:00 PM Pacific, you'll need to relog to receive it.

Bonehead

05-09-2014, 06:20 PM

The point is that it doesn't seem like the hat fits. Scaling still needs some tweaking for sure.
Thanks for the arkforge.

HeatherQc

05-09-2014, 06:27 PM

Only 50 arkforge...
And the threat level is still bad, we shouldn't have to get double enemies at threat level 10. This is dumb and not fun, they are already hard to kill no need to have double of them.

Holy Bahamut3

05-09-2014, 06:53 PM

Well that was a week from hell... So same time next week guys?

3rdpig

05-09-2014, 07:06 PM

Isn't this why we have a public test server? Could not all these problems have been avoided by simply putting it on the PTS first and actually listening and reacting to the feedback? Does it have to go live into the entire community with no real testing?

I'm going to log in and play tonight, but if it's "Bullet sponge Friday" I'm logging right out and buying Red Beans at firefall.com.

K Ron Spliffs

05-09-2014, 07:14 PM

50 Arkforge, but not till Tuesday?
I guess I can upgrade one level on a gun. Not the worst thing in the world.

SethC

05-09-2014, 07:24 PM

I totally agree with the testing, hardly any companies test their games anymore. They just release it and patch it later.

Remember, there's no need to rush your content -- look over it, test it, and if you need more time delay it -- if you take these steps you can prevent releasing something which could be game breaking to your customers. I'd rather you guys actually take your time, than rush and give me something which could potentially be a mess. I'm only saying this because I want you guys to break your current routine; releasing broken things one after another is not cool.

On a side note thanks for the arkforge. I guess I'll have to see what I can upgrade with that.

Wolfmoon2682

05-09-2014, 07:57 PM

Only 50 arkforge...
And the threat level is still bad, we shouldn't have to get double enemies at threat level 10. This is dumb and not fun, they are already hard to kill no need to have double of them.

Hey i'll take 50 AF and be happy about it. I'll take yours too if you don't want it lol.

Wolfmoon2682

05-09-2014, 07:58 PM

Isn't this why we have a public test server? Could not all these problems have been avoided by simply putting it on the PTS first and actually listening and reacting to the feedback? Does it have to go live into the entire community with no real testing?

I'm going to log in and play tonight, but if it's "Bullet sponge Friday" I'm logging right out and buying Red Beans at firefall.com.

I must agree with the pigman, why not use your test server for this kind of stuff and avoid upsetting the community!?

Bonehead

05-09-2014, 08:01 PM

I must agree with the pigman, why not use your test server for this kind of stuff and avoid upsetting the community!?

They did and this is the result.

Amack

05-09-2014, 08:06 PM

In the famous words of Ray Stantz.... Trick is either "a certified genius or an authentic wacko"

i can see it now, GM with table and tea set seeing above the battle field players, serving earl-grey while munching on French bread and jelly., asking the Dev's to pass the jelly. all this while dev's are sipping on there brew watching players die horribly below and thing maybe we should fix that code. Munch, sip..

GM: yeah but there having so much fun trying! He double sips and leans back.
Dev: One lump or too. Stray bullets whizzing by his ear.
GM: One please! oh can I have another spread. (Screams in the background)
Dev: Sure. Screaming in the background with explosions going off.
GM: Maybe we should tell them its a bug.
Dev: I'm pretty sure they know already. Tea pot get blown to pieces by stray shot.
GM: There goes the Tea!!
Dev: I will make more in a Few...

Could have happen this way don't you think?

Deunan

05-09-2014, 09:00 PM

I'm sorry but we don't need cute metaphors about top hats that convey nothing meaningful about the mechanics of dynamic scaling. We need an intelligent explanation of the exact mechanics of how it works. Normally this might not be required, but dynamic scaling is currently so dysfunctional and broken that it merits this kind of disclosure.

Here's what we know:

1. If a player character is within X distance of an event for Y period of time they get counted in calculating Threat Level.
2. We know X for most events. For Conflict Sites that are the objective of contracts it's the blue circle. For Arkfalls and Arkbreaks it's the small red circle. For Sieges it's the blue circle again and for Incursions it's the yellow circle. We don't have any circles to define emergencies but it's probable that they are the same area as the Incursion yellow circles for the Incursion emergencies.

That's it! That's literally all we know with any degree of certainty.

Here's what we don't know:

1. The formula for setting Threat Level. This is probably the thing many of us would like to know the most. Everyone knows that whatever it is, it's poorly designed for its task (see below).
2. The time span that the game uses to count players in the area in calculating Threat Level. Does it look at a snapshot of what players are present over 3 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds?
3. The time interval in between when it counts players in the area. Is it every wave? Is it every minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes?

Although we don't know the exact formula, we do know that it is irrefutably dysfunctional and broken. I did Horshoe Bay Breakout for the Soleptor Enterprises daily contract tonight. The only other player there was ~4400 EGO. I'm 5104. The mobs that spawned were all Formidable Raiders and there were twice as many of them. That makes little to no sense because the other player's DPS, health and shields are going to be inadequate to deal with Formidable raiders when it's only buffed to 4750.

There's a litany of other things going on in terms of scaling at TL 10 when this happens which further supports how broken and dysfunctional the Threat Level formula is but I'm not going to even bother going into them. The preceding paragraph speaks volumes with regards to that fact. Instead I'll turn to the opposite spectrum of how dysfunctional and broke it is if I'm the only one there. Now the mobs spawn as Enhanced and I basically run them over. So dynamic scaling is broken at both ends of the spectrum while the Defiance team continues to be completely opaque about the exact mechanics of how dynamic scaling works.

Let's be blunt. The implementation of dynamic scaling was and remains a failed endeavor on the part of the devs. There is no dynamic scaling in any other current open world MMO nor has there ever been in the entire history of open world MMO's. Their ambition vastly exceeded their capabilities and now, like Icarus as he flew too high towards the sun, the game is spiraling downwards with the players suffering from the fall. At this point we need more transparency regarding dynamic scaling, not platitudes and metaphors.

Amack

05-09-2014, 09:10 PM

I don't know Deunan, if I were an open world MMO game, I might think I was a dynamic event also.... I could see how that could get confusing.

Please don't ever change Deunan. I was waiting specifically for you to find this thread, and as usual you did not disappoint.

Bonehead

05-09-2014, 09:16 PM

I'm sorry but we don't need cute metaphors about top hats that convey nothing meaningful about the mechanics of dynamic scaling. We need an intelligent explanation of the exact mechanics of how it works. Normally this might not be required, but dynamic scaling is currently so dysfunctional and broken that it merits this kind of disclosure.

Here's what we know:

1. If a player character is within X distance of an event for Y period of time they get counted in calculating Threat Level.
2. We know X for most events. For Conflict Sites that are the objective of contracts it's the blue circle. For Arkfalls and Arkbreaks it's the small red circle. For Sieges it's the blue circle again and for Incursions it's the yellow circle. We don't have any circles to define emergencies but it's probable that they are the same area as the Incursion yellow circles for the Incursion emergencies.

That's it! That's literally all we know with any degree of certainty.

Here's what we don't know:

1. The formula for setting Threat Level. This is probably the thing many of us would like to know the most. Everyone knows that whatever it is, it's poorly designed for its task (see below).
2. The time span that the game uses to count players in the area in calculating Threat Level. Does it look at a snapshot of what players are present over 3 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds?
3. The time interval in between when it counts players in the area. Is it every wave? Is it every minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes?

Although we don't know the exact formula, we do know that it is irrefutably dysfunctional and broken. I did Horshoe Bay Breakout for the Soleptor Enterprises daily contract tonight. The only other player there was ~4400 EGO. I'm 5104. The mobs that spawned were all Formidable Raiders and there were twice as many of them. That makes little to no sense because the other player's DPS, health and shields are going to be inadequate to deal with Formidable raiders when it's only buffed to 4750.

There's a litany of other things going on in terms of scaling at TL 10 when this happens which further supports how broken and dysfunctional the Threat Level formula is but I'm not going to even bother going into them. The preceding paragraph speaks volumes with regards to that fact. Instead I'll turn to the opposite spectrum of how dysfunctional and broke it is if I'm the only one there. Now the mobs spawn as Enhanced and I basically run them over. So dynamic scaling is broken at both ends of the spectrum while the Defiance team continues to be completely opaque about the exact mechanics of how dynamic scaling works.

Let's be blunt. The implementation of dynamic scaling was and remains a failed endeavor on the part of the devs. There is no dynamic scaling in any current open world MMO nor has there ever been in the entire history of open world MMO's. Their ambition vastly exceeded their capabilities and now, like Icarus as he flew too high towards the sun, the game is spiraling downwards with the players suffering from the fall. At this point we need more transparency regarding dynamic scaling, not platitudes and metaphors.

That is precisely what I meant when I said the hat doesn't fit. Thank you Knute for always having the correct words in the correct order.

Market

05-09-2014, 09:17 PM

Please don't ever change Deunan. I was waiting specifically for you to find this thread, and as usual you did not disappoint.

Seconded. :)

Amack

05-09-2014, 09:37 PM

Heavens forbid they used a formula similar to this....

A grand total of 1-500 ego = Threat Level 1

A grand total of 500-1k ego = Threat Level 2

A grand total of 1k-3k ego = Threat Level 3

A grand total of 3k-5k ego = Threat Level 4

A grand total of 5k-10k ego = Threat Level 5

A grand total of 10k-20k ego = Threat Level 6

A grand total of 20k-40k ego = Threat Level 7

A grand total of 40k-80k ego = Threat Level 8

A grand total of 80k-160k ego = Threat Level 9

A grand total of 160k-320k ego = Threat Level 10

I know, I'm talking crazy again.

QipQip

05-09-2014, 10:00 PM

Heavens forbid they used a formula similar to this....

A grand total of 1-500 ego = Threat Level 1

A grand total of 500-1k ego = Threat Level 2

A grand total of 1k-3k ego = Threat Level 3

A grand total of 3k-5k ego = Threat Level 4

A grand total of 5k-10k ego = Threat Level 5

A grand total of 10k-20k ego = Threat Level 6

A grand total of 20k-40k ego = Threat Level 7

A grand total of 40k-80k ego = Threat Level 8

A grand total of 80k-160k ego = Threat Level 9

A grand total of 160k-320k ego = Threat Level 10

I know, I'm talking crazy again.
This needed to be quoted because its a good idea.Period.
On a side note,Fifty Arkforge? Fifty? Is Trion trying to be CRAZY GENEROUS like Vonage?

Bonehead

05-09-2014, 10:26 PM

Heavens forbid they used a formula similar to this....

A grand total of 1-500 ego = Threat Level 1

A grand total of 500-1k ego = Threat Level 2

A grand total of 1k-3k ego = Threat Level 3

A grand total of 3k-5k ego = Threat Level 4

A grand total of 5k-10k ego = Threat Level 5

A grand total of 10k-20k ego = Threat Level 6

A grand total of 20k-40k ego = Threat Level 7

A grand total of 40k-80k ego = Threat Level 8

A grand total of 80k-160k ego = Threat Level 9

A grand total of 160k-320k ego = Threat Level 10

I know, I'm talking crazy again.

They don't do simple.

3rdpig

05-09-2014, 10:36 PM

They don't do simple.

And herein lies the root of the problem. We needed simplicity, a system that would be easy to understand both from a developer and a gamer standpoint, and one that would be easy to adjust on the fly. What we got is a rube goldberg device that no one completely understands or knows how to adjust so it's running properly.

Tekrunner

05-10-2014, 12:41 AM

Let's be blunt. The implementation of dynamic scaling was and remains a failed endeavor on the part of the devs. There is no dynamic scaling in any other current open world MMO nor has there ever been in the entire history of open world MMO's. Their ambition vastly exceeded their capabilities and now, like Icarus as he flew too high towards the sun, the game is spiraling downwards with the players suffering from the fall. At this point we need more transparency regarding dynamic scaling, not platitudes and metaphors.

That's a very harsh assessment there. Because something has never been done, no one should try? Personally I quite like the idea of dynamic scaling, and I really wish that Trion can get it fully right in this game.

The formula for calculating Threat Level is, in fact, pretty simple. It is almost certainly as follows (haven't seen any case which contradicts it):
For conflict sites outside of Mt Tam and emergencies: ROUND(SUM(EGO of all players doing the event)/1000). The ROUND may be a CEIL (always rounding up) or the formula may be ROUND(SUM(ROUND(EGO of players))/1000), but the general idea is there.
For conflict sites in Mt Tam, arkfalls and minor arkbreak interiors: ROUND(SUM(EGO of all players doing the event)/2000)

I'm not sure where incursions, sieges and major arkbreaks fit, but that's because they almost always have enough people to be TL10. So a lone EGO 5.7k gets TL6 at a conflict site, and in your example you had TL9 or 10.

I believe the game updates the TL of an event about 5 - 10 seconds after a player joins or leave. I haven't tested this precisely (though that wouldn't be too hard), but this matches the delay I've observed for TL update when someone joins or leave. When TL goes down, high level enemies don't derank, but I believe that their HP and damage drops as if they did (though they keep their armor plates, which can be problematic for someone who doesn't know about bio).

One thing that I believe would improve people's experience with TL10 would be to make the scaling curve more linear. Remember the long plateau between 3500 and 5000? A boost to 4750 puts you right at the end of that, where you have almost no advantage compared to an EGO 3500, do barely over half the damage of an EGO 5500, and are overall not well prepared for TL10. With a more linear curve, at EGO 4750 people could do like 80-85% of the damage of an EGO 5500 (and have matching shields and HP), and do much more serious damage on TL10 enemies.

Riz

05-10-2014, 02:24 AM

I don't buy and play games to read up on technical issues and see cute metaphores. I buy and play games because i like them and want to play them. Guess it's solved now? They sat down with the 'open world' and had a few words. I'll be trying that and have 2 tests for it:

1. The test i did thursday and friday, i go to Mine 99 and ask my 5500 EGO friend to wait outside but close enough to get the TL to level 10. I'll pull out my oj 7th Legion Nezumi and see how many bullets a Goldrusher requires to go down. Hopefully a little less then 350 rounds this time lol.

2. The second test can't be said, i'll be receiving an infraction again... It involves a high hill and looking through the scope of my sniper.

EDIT: Oh yeah... thx for the 50 Arkforge! That really is 'exciting'. :rolleyes:

K Ron Spliffs

05-10-2014, 06:18 AM

i'm sorry but we don't need cute metaphors about top hats that convey nothing meaningful about the mechanics of dynamic scaling. We need an intelligent explanation of the exact mechanics of how it works. Normally this might not be required, but dynamic scaling is currently so dysfunctional and broken that it merits this kind of disclosure.

Here's what we know:

1. If a player character is within x distance of an event for y period of time they get counted in calculating threat level.
2. We know x for most events. For conflict sites that are the objective of contracts it's the blue circle. For arkfalls and arkbreaks it's the small red circle. For sieges it's the blue circle again and for incursions it's the yellow circle. We don't have any circles to define emergencies but it's probable that they are the same area as the incursion yellow circles for the incursion emergencies.

That's it! That's literally all we know with any degree of certainty.

Here's what we don't know:

1. The formula for setting threat level. This is probably the thing many of us would like to know the most. Everyone knows that whatever it is, it's poorly designed for its task (see below).
2. The time span that the game uses to count players in the area in calculating threat level. Does it look at a snapshot of what players are present over 3 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds?
3. The time interval in between when it counts players in the area. Is it every wave? Is it every minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes?

Although we don't know the exact formula, we do know that it is irrefutably dysfunctional and broken. I did horshoe bay breakout for the soleptor enterprises daily contract tonight. The only other player there was ~4400 ego. I'm 5104. The mobs that spawned were all formidable raiders and there were twice as many of them. That makes little to no sense because the other player's dps, health and shields are going to be inadequate to deal with formidable raiders when it's only buffed to 4750.

There's a litany of other things going on in terms of scaling at tl 10 when this happens which further supports how broken and dysfunctional the threat level formula is but i'm not going to even bother going into them. The preceding paragraph speaks volumes with regards to that fact. Instead i'll turn to the opposite spectrum of how dysfunctional and broke it is if i'm the only one there. Now the mobs spawn as enhanced and i basically run them over. So dynamic scaling is broken at both ends of the spectrum while the defiance team continues to be completely opaque about the exact mechanics of how dynamic scaling works.

Let's be blunt. The implementation of dynamic scaling was and remains a failed endeavor on the part of the devs. There is no dynamic scaling in any other current open world mmo nor has there ever been in the entire history of open world mmo's. Their ambition vastly exceeded their capabilities and now, like icarus as he flew too high towards the sun, the game is spiraling downwards with the players suffering from the fall. At this point we need more transparency regarding dynamic scaling, not platitudes and metaphors.

qft. +1.............

BJWyler

05-10-2014, 07:58 AM

The point is that it doesn't seem like the hat fits. Scaling still needs some tweaking for sure.
Thanks for the arkforge.

This.

In all reality, this still doesn't address the overall issues with the changes in 1.5. Things like Arkbreak Interiors (especially the minors), Volge Sieges, Explosions 101, Kenn Farm Siege/Incursion Hulkers. Each one of these issues makes part of the game unplayable - either the event itself or the completion of the pursuit. At what point can we expect to see information that addresses these issues because they are now the biggest in the game.

dramaQkarri

05-10-2014, 08:23 AM

I'm pretty miffed that they have not noticed, mentioned, or fixed the issue with Warmaster & Incursions not awarding keycodes. It shows in the reward screen and no keys are given. I was #1 in Kenn Farm incursion last night, no keys. I was #2 when beating a warmaster last night, no keys.

FIX THAT, DAM YOU!

bigguy

05-10-2014, 12:57 PM

Im sorry but 50 arkforge isnt going to cut it in my opinion. Im not sure if you guys (TRION) know that your rewards system is messed up or not because as usual we arent getting responses to the threads stating that there is a problem. So i have already lost more than 50 arkforge in the events i have participated in and not recieved my rewards and its only saturday midday , i figure i will lose a couple hundred by the time you figure it out and fix it. Will i get compensation for that?...we should have gotten loot boost as well. Please fix the rewards problem asap....Pleeeeeaaaaase

Bonehead

05-10-2014, 01:18 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eSMxRya2S8

SethC

05-10-2014, 01:29 PM

Will i get compensation for that?...we should have gotten loot boost as well.
As much as I love making tons of scrip off weapon drops, I don't think my fatboy can keep up with it. Last time we had a loot boost it kept keeling over(hard freeze). It is tempting though... :o

Kellmourn

05-10-2014, 03:20 PM

Im sorry but 50 arkforge isnt going to cut it in my opinion. Im not sure if you guys (TRION) know that your rewards system is messed up or not because as usual we arent getting responses to the threads stating that there is a problem. So i have already lost more than 50 arkforge in the events i have participated in and not recieved my rewards and its only saturday midday , i figure i will lose a couple hundred by the time you figure it out and fix it. Will i get compensation for that?...we should have gotten loot boost as well. Please fix the rewards problem asap....Pleeeeeaaaaase

Ditto there bigguy!

So everything is now working as intended?

I ran the Motherload yesterday. Myself at 5700 ego, and others somewhere between 2k and 4k. Every mob was a huge bullet sponge. Now I don't expect every mob to go down with just a few hits, but wow, taking a whole smg clip of 105 rounds to down one mob. Then when you figure out the 30+ mobs that are in some of the chambers which all come running at once, certainly makes for a pucker moment. The team performed well with only a few downs. Using the available resources at hand, and heavy bmg healing, we made it through. What normally should be a 15-20 excursion took about an hour.

How is this working correctly?

Atticus Batman

05-10-2014, 03:31 PM

Ditto there bigguy!

So everything is now working as intended?

I ran the Motherload yesterday. Myself at 5700 ego, and others somewhere between 2k and 4k. Every mob was a huge bullet sponge. Now I don't expect every mob to go down with just a few hits, but wow, taking a whole smg clip of 105 rounds to down one mob. Then when you figure out the 30+ mobs that are in some of the chambers which all come running at once, certainly makes for a pucker moment. The team performed well with only a few downs. Using the available resources at hand, and heavy bmg healing, we made it through. What normally should be a 15-20 excursion took about an hour.

How is this working correctly?

Sounds to me like you played that co-op on expert mode. Standard does NOT scale up and instead stays at threat level 1. Advanded scales to Tl5, and expert scales to tl10.

lifeexpectancy

05-11-2014, 12:30 AM

Regardless of that it shouldnt take multiple clips to down ONE minor enemy. It shouldnt take an hour and a half to two hoirs to clear one co op map, expert mode or not. Just because they cant figure out how to make enemies SMARTER doesnt mean they should just turn them into super absorbent sponges. Something is wrong when I can strip 7 layers of ablative armor with one clip and my buddy can drill away 100% of the health in one clip, but the shields in between the ablative armor and the health take clip after clip after clip after.... you get the idea.

Patch 1.505 improved the scaling somewhat, but 1.508 brought us full circle back to DLP 5 day 1 idiocy. And people wonder why most of us try to find ways to skip through the bulk of these co op maps.

Critical Errors

05-11-2014, 03:11 AM

Bullet sponges are to gaming what puns are to comedy; the lowest form of the art.

I love the new aggressive mode that enemies have at TL10. That was a great idea!

The endless spamming of bullets into one enemy is bland and tiresome. It makes this game more work than it should be, and will turn more people away than it should.

Loot rewards at Incusions/Sieges needs stepped up again. Our hard work is not being rewarded!

Volge sieges need reworked. Too many Ark Viscera for too few players. Stop doubling the enemy spawn numbers! Trooper grenades need the dial turned down from 11. Alternatively, Blast Shield should be changed to dmg reduction, not just distance.

Did I mention rewards suck? I'm not a casual player. I put in at least 6 hours per day. In three weeks I've still not seen a legendary from a Siege. Did you take them out?

this list could go on, but I digress....

dramaQkarri

05-11-2014, 09:31 AM

From Creative Lead Trick Dempsey:
"So, there were two major issues we attempted to fix, boned, and then actually fixed."

No, ya didn't. Most of the last 3 patch notes are unverified as fixed...and so minor as to not matter. The one thing that did get fixed is the spamming reward screens.
And now, we are not receiving our keycodes at Expert Co-ops, Major Arkbreaks, and Incursions. The missing Epic Mod Hoards make contracts not worth doing. That leaves only good old-fashioned Arkfalls so whatcha gonna do about the rest?

Please see my shiny new thread regarding this issue:
http://forums.defiance.com/showthread.php?159026-The-Patching-Frenzy-and-what-remains-BROKEN-(NO-KEYS!)

EDIT: As my thread continues, I'm finding out the non-awarded keycodes apply to only SOME OF US, not all players are having this issue. I'm about to film and post video to my thread linked here.

Sliverbaer

05-11-2014, 09:39 AM

Not fixed. You're killing us with this shtako.

http://youtu.be/L1ahyNsMCvQ

r2nddan

05-11-2014, 10:54 AM

You ruined it again. Put it back, fix the servers and go work on rift!

Tsort

05-11-2014, 12:06 PM

(vid)
Oh man. :(

This is more than embarrassing. Please stop hurting Defiance.

Deunan

05-11-2014, 12:06 PM

That's a very harsh assessment there. Because something has never been done, no one should try?Sometimes truths can be harsh. It's not just that something has never been done. It's that it's clearly beyond the devs capabilities. I can't think of a single instance when they've implemented anything substantively new in the game where it hasn't been accompanied by serious issues either conceptually or mechanically. Here's one prominent and poignant example:

We're still dealing with the broken mechanics of the Warmaster over 4 months after the release of Arkbreaker while the dev team adamantly refuses to lift a finger to do anything about it. Grouping options are still non-existent and we have to come up with convoluted work-arounds by calling players in off of our friends list which does nothing to ameliorate the issue of all the deadweight already in the instance. Perhaps and probably it's beyond they're capabilities to allow common sense grouping options but they won't even fix EGO's dialogues inside the chamber. It's almost as if they're deliberately trolling the entire player community in that regard. You think this kind of open display of deficits in coding ability merits having any faith that they could ever pull off dynamic scaling?

You and others have posted conceptually extremely simple changes to dynamic scaling that would help to balance things. It's an understatement to say that for the dev team to not have already entertained such notions requires an amazing lack of creative and intuitive intelligence in game design and it's totally consistent with their past history for this game, so we're not talking about just shortcomings in their coding ability.

You don't enable the delusions of a fat out-of-shape couch potato, whose fight experience entails playing Tekken, about stepping into the ring in a no tapout 10 round MMA match with Cain Velasquez, and it's no better to enable the delusions of the dev team just because conceptually the idea of dynamic scaling is interesting, only in this case, it's the players taking the merciless beating. Even the 5500 plus player base lacks solidarity with you regarding your assessment of the merits of TL10 after 1.507 for high EGO players (http://forums.defiance.com/showthread.php?158933-STOP-Griefing-me-TRION). I reiterate that the endeavor has been a complete failure.

Tsort

05-11-2014, 12:26 PM

It's not just that something has never been done. It's that it's clearly beyond the devs capabilities.
It could perhaps have been better, but as with everything here, it was rushed and completely untested. That's the main issue.

By the way, I didn't understand a single word about the "hat" thing. And quite frankly I do not care. I know a lot of people here who'd like to know more of what's going on, so they can understand and possibly help, or at least make up their mind about the state of the game. But again, I do not care. Just give me a game that works or roll it back. Enough already.

Bonehead

05-11-2014, 12:42 PM

Sometimes truths can be harsh. It's not just that something has never been done. It's that it's clearly beyond the devs capabilities. I can't think of a single instance when they've implemented anything substantively new in the game where it hasn't been accompanied by serious issues either conceptually or mechanically. Here's one prominent and poignant example:

We're still dealing with the broken mechanics of the Warmaster over 4 months after the release of Arkbreaker while the dev team adamantly refuses to lift a finger to do anything about it. Grouping options are still non-existent and we have to come up with convoluted work-arounds by calling players in off of our friends list which does nothing to ameliorate the issue of all the deadweight already in the instance. Perhaps and probably it's beyond they're capabilities to allow common sense grouping options but they won't even fix EGO's dialogues inside the chamber. It's almost as if they're deliberately trolling the entire player community in that regard. You think this kind of open display of deficits in coding ability merits having any faith that they could ever pull off dynamic scaling?

You and others have posted conceptually extremely simple changes to dynamic scaling that would help to balance things. It's an understatement to say that for the dev team to not have already entertained such notions requires an amazing lack of creative and intuitive intelligence in game design and it's totally consistent with their past history for this game, so we're not talking about just shortcomings in their coding ability.

You don't enable the delusions of a fat out-of-shape couch potato, whose fight experience entails playing Tekken, about stepping into the ring in a no tapout 10 round MMA match with Cain Velasquez, and it's no better to enable the delusions of the dev team just because conceptually the idea of dynamic scaling is interesting, only in this case, it's the players taking the merciless beating. Even the 5500 plus player base lacks solidarity with you regarding your assessment of the merits of TL10 after 1.507 for high EGO players (http://forums.defiance.com/showthread.php?158933-STOP-Griefing-me-TRION). I reiterate that the endeavor has been a complete failure.

From Creative Lead Trick Dempsey:
"So, there were two major issues we attempted to fix, boned, and [I]then actually fixed."

That actually is quite funny no? I guess 'success' depends on how you look at it hahaha!

Bonehead

05-11-2014, 05:13 PM

That actually is quite funny no? I guess 'success' depends on how you look at it hahaha!

It also depends on a very loose definition of the word "fixed".

Tsort

05-12-2014, 01:10 AM

That actually is quite funny no? I guess 'success' depends on how you look at it hahaha!

It also depends on a very loose definition of the word "fixed".
Well, it's definitely not my definition of "funny" though.

Xaat Xuun

05-12-2014, 02:37 AM

Heavens forbid they used a formula similar to this....

A grand total of 1-500 ego = Threat Level 1

A grand total of 500-1k ego = Threat Level 2

A grand total of 1k-3k ego = Threat Level 3

A grand total of 3k-5k ego = Threat Level 4

A grand total of 5k-10k ego = Threat Level 5

A grand total of 10k-20k ego = Threat Level 6

A grand total of 20k-40k ego = Threat Level 7

A grand total of 40k-80k ego = Threat Level 8

A grand total of 80k-160k ego = Threat Level 9

A grand total of 160k-320k ego = Threat Level 10

I know, I'm talking crazy again.

It does look like it's working that way, where it's scaling up, and not the average of the EGO in the area.
only a few times I checked, that's if I noticed the scaling change of my EGO, but as soon as there are 2 ego 5000 show up, the threat goes straight to 10, not sure if it dose that every time, because I miss checking all who is nearby.
and there are times there are just too many to bother checking, but at the end of the event and seeing what looks like 1/3rd (3rd of the amount of Players in the area)that just ego up, were below EGO 300, I just don't understand, . . if there are that many low EGO's, why are we at TL10

SethC

05-12-2014, 09:12 AM

I think I made about 500 Ark forge over the weekend, can't wait for that bonus 50 ! ;)

Quebra Regra

05-12-2014, 09:36 AM

Im sorry but 50 arkforge isnt going to cut it in my opinion. Im not sure if you guys (TRION) know that your rewards system is messed up or not because as usual we arent getting responses to the threads stating that there is a problem. So i have already lost more than 50 arkforge in the events i have participated in and not recieved my rewards and its only saturday midday , i figure i will lose a couple hundred by the time you figure it out and fix it. Will i get compensation for that?...we should have gotten loot boost as well. Please fix the rewards problem asap....Pleeeeeaaaaase

SECONDED!

When I can get 70 arkforge from a single t2 lockbox, 50 ARKFORGE hardly seems like an apology... more of a slight really, considering how rewards were not working properly. Hell, I'd have made more ark forge than that If I could have gotten keys from the WM, etc. But go ahead and give me 50 arkforge to make up for it? How about something that actually quantitatively makes up for the loss? Too much to ask?

The usual boosts would have been more welcomed this weekend, but I guess that was cutting into the cash flow too much?

whatever....

Rolery

05-12-2014, 09:40 AM

Fixed?! What about the pursuits that cannot be completed because of bugged rampages/hotshots? What about Apex Hulkers? They may theoretically be possible to kill, but I haven't been able to increase my count in two weeks, no matter how focused we are or the time of day. What about disconnecting once per half hour and hard freezing more than once per day? What about certain weapons being received at 100 EGO lower than your current level, instantly requiring arkforge? What about some of us not receiving any keycodes even though the reward screen says we should have?

Trion - shouldn't you fix the game we bought before releasing it as free-to-play? At least make it somewhat stable for the player no matter the platform, and fix broken missions, pursuits, and rewards? I don't think that's too much to ask.

dramaQkarri

05-12-2014, 10:06 AM

Fixed?! What about the pursuits that cannot be completed because of bugged rampages/hotshots? What about Apex Hulkers? They may theoretically be possible to kill, but I haven't been able to increase my count in two weeks, no matter how focused we are or the time of day. What about disconnecting once per half hour and hard freezing more than once per day? What about certain weapons being received at 100 EGO lower than your current level, instantly requiring arkforge? What about some of us not receiving any keycodes even though the reward screen says we should have?

Trion - shouldn't you fix the game we bought before releasing it as free-to-play? At least make it somewhat stable for the player no matter the platform, and fix broken missions, pursuits, and rewards? I don't think that's too much to ask.

Yes, ALL these things and more...NOT FIXED.

What is The Company's working definition of "fixed"? Maybe that's the problem.

Deunan

05-12-2014, 10:14 AM

When I can get 70 arkforge from a single t2 lockbox, 50 ARKFORGE hardly seems like an apology...As an aside, you can't get 70 Arkforge from a single lock box. There is only one drop that can contain Arkforge and it can only yield 20 or 50. The 70 you're seeing is the combined Arkforge you're getting as you purchase boxes in succession without waiting for all the rewards to flash on your screen for each box to finish before purchasing the next one.

Mushbeeguy

05-12-2014, 11:29 AM

It does look like it's working that way, where it's scaling up, and not the average of the EGO in the area.
only a few times I checked, that's if I noticed the scaling change of my EGO, but as soon as there are 2 ego 5000 show up, the threat goes straight to 10, not sure if it dose that every time, because I miss checking all who is nearby. (SNIP)

I JUST did Serenity Academy. I am at 4260 right now. I walked into the area at threat level 2 killed a couple bad guys, it bumped up to lvl 4. It stayed there until I finished soloing the mission. I never saw another purple dot.
Ok, I have no problem with it going to lvl 4...in fact That may be the first time I have seen anything under level 6 . But why did it change midstream? I also recognize the low level may be part of the nerf Mt Tam process.

Quebra Regra

05-12-2014, 12:33 PM

As an aside, you can't get 70 Arkforge from a single lock box. There is only one drop that can contain Arkforge and it can only yield 20 or 50. The 70 you're seeing is the combined Arkforge you're getting as you purchase boxes in succession without waiting for all the rewards to flash on your screen for each box to finish before purchasing the next one.

That makes sense, thanks for the correct.

Allow me to re-assert then that I can get 50 arkforge from a t2 lockbox which I can purchase with 0 expended effort from a daily/weekly reward box. Hence, 50 arkforge compensation for the extremely poorly executed patch debacle, and for having the chutzpah to assert that all is fixed is an insult to the injury.

make it 500 and it's "apology accepted"...
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120108175034/starwars/images/6/67/WorstSoreThroatEver-ESB.jpg

FilmoreGraves

05-12-2014, 01:29 PM

No matter how much you test you can never recreate the public servers. There are too many players and interactions to ever sort all bugs. It is better to release and see what bugs arise. Everything seems easy to people who don't have any clue on coding.

Deunan

05-12-2014, 01:39 PM

No matter how much you test you can never recreate the public servers. There are too many players and interactions to ever sort all bugs. It is better to release and see what bugs arise. Everything seems easy to people who don't have any clue on coding.This would be persuasive if the dynamic scaling issues weren't pointed out to the devs in numerous feedback reports from players during the Alpha Test Server phase but they were so it's not. On top of that while there are conditions you can't recreate on the QA or test servers, all of the dynamic scaling issues can easily be replicated on the test servers with just a handful of players. They have the ability to put over a dozen QA testers on any given event on the QA server and that is all that was needed. These things may seem hard to someone who doesn't have a clue what he or she is talking about though. See what I did there?

Xaat Xuun

05-12-2014, 01:43 PM

So what’s suppose to happen to the lower EGO players in the scaling ?
I don’t really see an increase in HP, or Shield capacity, certainly do not see any increase in weapon damage.
What I do see , is that I have a higher EGO number, and it appears the NPC’s had a increase in HP, and Shield capacities , and damage.
Apparently the Scaling is working, but just for the NPC’s
so uh, again what’s suppose to happen to the lower EGO players in the scaling ?

:o I really need to get a video capture , so I can record and share what I see, and sound less incoherent :rolleyes:

Deunan

05-12-2014, 02:03 PM

So whatís suppose to happen to the lower EGO players in the scaling ?
I donít really see an increase in HP, or Shield capacity, certainly do not see any increase in weapon damage.For health there is no way for you to measure that other than by having others give you damage information in PvP but it does go up. The displayed card damage for your gear doesn't change but that doesn't mean that your shields and weapons aren't getting boosted. For shields you need to rely on PVP again but for weapons if you look at your damage splash numbers from before and after a threat level boost you will see that they do more damage when there is a threat level that boosts your EGO.

maverick07

05-12-2014, 02:19 PM

For health there is no way for you to measure that other than by having others give you damage information in PvP but it does go up. The displayed card damage for your gear doesn't change but that doesn't mean that your shields and weapons aren't getting boosted. For shields you need to rely on PVP again but for weapons if you look at your damage splash numbers from before and after a threat level boost you will see that they do more damage when there is a threat level that boosts your EGO.

You can test health and shield numbers by killing yourself and having a friend revive you with his/her DMG numbers on. It can be hard to see though as the numbers tend to cross over each other when they pop up.

Also helps to use a shield that you know should be lower or higher than your health to get that number. Like a Respark or an Ironclad.

Atticus Batman

05-12-2014, 02:40 PM

What about certain weapons being received at 100 EGO lower than your current level, instantly requiring arkforge?.

This one I can answer. They said it is working as intended, and that you will always have a good chance of getting drops upto 100 ego below your level.

It may suck, but they have done that since the Beta, and Trion is NOT planning on changing it.

Atticus Batman

05-12-2014, 02:45 PM

I JUST did Serenity Academy. I am at 4260 right now. I walked into the area at threat level 2 killed a couple bad guys, it bumped up to lvl 4. It stayed there until I finished soloing the mission. I never saw another purple dot.
Ok, I have no problem with it going to lvl 4...in fact That may be the first time I have seen anything under level 6 . But why did it change midstream? I also recognize the low level may be part of the nerf Mt Tam process.

You are SUPPOSED to be at threat level 4 when by yourself. The reason it started lower is because you were in Mt. Tam. Mt. Tam is the only area specced to raise the level more slowly, since it is the starter area.

Btw that mission does have a scoreboard at the end, so did you see another person on the scoreboard? Do to faulty phasing, you may not have seen a person, but anybody who got atleast a couple points at that event will appear on the scoreboard.

However as I said above, at over ego 4k you should always be at tl4 by yourself.

Quebra Regra

05-12-2014, 03:06 PM

No matter how much you test you can never recreate the public servers. There are too many players and interactions to ever sort all bugs. It is better to release and see what bugs arise. Everything seems easy to people who don't have any clue on coding.

Nice try junior mole troll, but you have been detected:
http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/ff/ff0a5b645d27628399fdf28adaaf27767a354a9cb3baaebcb4 80e325daf417bd.jpg

Shtako thru and thru! Is that what you tell your clients? Ah the old "we couldn't reproduce the problem because we can't simulate the environment" excuse. I had some software vendors claim that on occasion... guess what?... they were replaced by vendors with stable code, that could be supported. BS! Any coder worth their salt could create infinite player instances to simulate loading etc.

Never accept "we didn't test the patch because it was too hard" as an excuse. That's just sloppy seconds. Besides, I could write a simple Perl script that could replace your entire existence. :)

Xaat Xuun

05-12-2014, 03:43 PM

For health there is no way for you to measure that other than by having others give you damage information in PvP but it does go up. The displayed card damage for your gear doesn't change but that doesn't mean that your shields and weapons aren't getting boosted. For shields you need to rely on PVP again but for weapons if you look at your damage splash numbers from before and after a threat level boost you will see that they do more damage when there is a threat level that boosts your EGO.
okay, and Thanks for the info, I've yet to keep an actual Data collection between gaining higher EGO/Threat level, so all I can say what it feels/looks like.
I haven't looked into it, wonder if something like ACT (http://advancedcombattracker.com/) would work in DEFI. Then I could see a difference , if it could work, just need someone to write the Plugin for it . . I wouldn't know how :o

I'll try and pay more attention to the damage numbers

Scapes

05-12-2014, 03:57 PM

UPDATE: We were able to execute the Arkforge distribution this afternoon. If you were in-game at 4:00 PM Pacific, you'll need to relog to receive it.

Mushbeeguy

05-12-2014, 03:58 PM

You are SUPPOSED to be at threat level 4 when by yourself. The reason it started lower is because you were in Mt. Tam. Mt. Tam is the only area specced to raise the level more slowly, since it is the starter area.

I suspected it was part of the Mt Tam nerf. I was more surprised at the lvl 2 for the first few mobs.

Btw that mission does have a scoreboard at the end, so did you see another person on the scoreboard? Do to faulty phasing, you may not have seen a person, but anybody who got atleast a couple points at that event will appear on the scoreboard.

However as I said above, at over ego 4k you should always be at tl4 by yourself.

Yes I saw the score card and no there was no one else on it. Thanks

K Ron Spliffs

05-12-2014, 07:34 PM

UPDATE: We were able to execute the Arkforge distribution this afternoon. If you were in-game at 4:00 PM Pacific, you'll need to relog to receive it.

NO fix for other MASS AMOUNT OF GAME BREAKING ISSUES?

Thanks for the 50 arkforge XD. Such a big compensation....

DIS

05-12-2014, 07:40 PM

NO fix for other MASS AMOUNT OF GAME BREAKING ISSUES?

Thanks for the 50 arkforge XD. Such a big compensation....

I'd gladly give back the 50 Arkforge for a fix to the enemies phasing in and out of sight throughout the game.

ColapsN7

05-12-2014, 08:13 PM

many thanks:cool:.

lifeexpectancy

05-12-2014, 09:36 PM

I'd gladly give back the 50 Arkforge for a fix to the enemies phasing in and out of sight throughout the game.

This. Todays chimera challenge = have fun fighting the hulkers that are STILL FREAKING INVISIBLE 90% OF THE TIME. Phasing enemies.... 2 more days to finish the last achievement and Im taking my game disc to the range, shooting the **** out of it, and mailing the shards to Trion.

Bonehead

05-12-2014, 10:25 PM

This. Todays chimera challenge = have fun fighting the hulkers that are STILL FREAKING INVISIBLE 90% OF THE TIME. Phasing enemies.... 2 more days to finish the last achievement and Im taking my game disc to the range, shooting the **** out of it, and mailing the shards to Trion.

I doubt you'll be alone.

FilmoreGraves

05-13-2014, 12:35 AM

Truly all full of self entitlement.

Bonehead

05-13-2014, 12:51 AM

Truly all full of self entitlement.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4083/5055032357_69d1d1be72.jpg

ShawnyBee

05-13-2014, 05:11 AM

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4083/5055032357_69d1d1be72.jpg

Out of all the pics I see posted, that one was easily the funniest.

And yay for 50 arkforge.

SethC

05-13-2014, 05:35 AM

UPDATE: We were able to execute the Arkforge distribution this afternoon. If you were in-game at 4:00 PM Pacific, you'll need to relog to receive it.
Many thanks for the Ark Forge my man. That's one free upgrade for an orange, so no complaints. Although I'm finished upgrading for now, I'm gonna stack my forge. :cool:

Festival

05-13-2014, 08:33 AM

Many thanks for the Ark Forge my man. That's one free upgrade for an orange, so no complaints. Although I'm finished upgrading for now, I'm gonna stack my forge. :cool:

Likewise. Most of my "go to" weapons are OJs, so a free upgrade was most appreciated. Some people are complaining it's not enough, but they're probably the same people who if you gave them a free slice of pie, they'd whine that there was no scoop of ice cream with it.

dramaQkarri

05-13-2014, 08:40 AM

Thanks, I'll take the arkforge. But Defiance is still very broken. I won't complain about it here but I will continue to complain!

SethC

05-13-2014, 08:54 AM

It'll come in handy later if I need to reroll the mastery bonus on a gun. Since most of my go to guns that I'm happy with are upgraded to my rating, that extra 50 will go nice in my toon's bottomless pockets.

Trion still has a lot of work ahead of them in fixing this game though. I have to leave Wednesday(lost our house) hopefully when I come back, this game will be in better shape. Best of luck with fixing everything ! ;)

Also, if Trion sent us pie as an apology...

http://i.imgur.com/psekO3B.gif

Quebra Regra

05-13-2014, 12:45 PM

50 arkforge received, game still borkd. Thanx.

Are assertions still be made that the issues have been fixed?

cmpowell

05-13-2014, 09:50 PM

Don't get me wrong I appreciate the 50 Arkforge for last wed and thur unplayability, but do you realize how many keys and arkforge we missed out on on sat and sun? and that the warmaster, what used to be one of the funnest events in the game, doesn't give proper rewards and is almost impossible to beat.

come on, man you guys can do a whole lot better!!!! specially since the only promises I've read for a fix is with F2P. you all do realize thats 2 months away for console, right??? not the 2 weeks for PC

Chomis

05-14-2014, 10:42 AM

Hi.
My friend (~950 EGO) and I (~1050 EGO) have a trouble with points after Arkfalls and other stuff with scoreboards. When scoreboard appears one of us often (usually she) have a really low score (e.g. yesterday she got ~30k points placing her on the bottom of scoreboard (22nd place) when she had number of kills and player revives like guys with >100k score (1st - 10th places), when we both were one of the first players in the area of Arkfall). Anybody knows, why is it happening?

pspencer

05-14-2014, 01:40 PM

I have a real problem with the new scaling system. I have been playing faithfully since I bought the game several months ago. In the beginning, I had several friends who played with me. Since the new scaling system, none of them are willing to play. So, as in the beginning, I am a lone player again. That is fine with me, but I don't see a very bright future for this game as it stands now. Increasing the difficulty is fine, but increasing it to the point that it is no longer any fun seems pointless. I currently have an ego rating of around 3812. When I have to empty a clip and a half into an enemies face just to keep it away from me... I feel they went a bit too far. My primary weapon is a purple frontier saw that is fully upgraded with epic mods. My secondary is an orange VOT Volge Battle Rifle MK IV, also fully upgraded with the epic mods. I can only imagine the frustration that the lower level player feels while trying to compete in this new scaling system.

Another issue I have is that if they intend to keep this "scaling" system, they need to realize that just because someone has a higher rating, it doesn't always mean they are a skilled player. When lower rated players have to try to compensate for a higher level player who isn't as skilled as one might think they would be, it causes for a lot of frustration. I've been seeing a lot of new players running and hiding during the battles, which is about all they can do. I can't really blame them when they can no longer compete in the battle, especially since they are killed off every time they try to fight. Come on guys, the higher ranked players already had an edge in battle and they never had to work like the lower level players have to do now to get where they are...

This is to all players; if you see a player (especially a low level player) down, please revive them if possible. I know sometimes you can't always get to someone in time but walking past them when there is no danger isn't right. I always try to save anyone that is down. Many times, they help me out if I go down in return. Personally, I believe if the stronger players don't watch out for the weaker players, this game will have an even worse future.

Crazed Voltan; Ego 3812

pspencer

05-14-2014, 02:02 PM

This was for Chomis: It isn't so much the number of kills, but rather which kills (and damage points) you get. If you kill one of the stronger enemies, you get more points. Another thing is if you are taken down or killed in many of the missions it cuts your score. However, I have had the same issue arise with some of the Arkfalls I participated in as well. I currently have an ego rating of 3812 and certainly understand what you are saying. I hope this helps, Crazed Voltan

3rdpig

05-14-2014, 02:32 PM

Come on guys, the higher ranked players already had an edge in battle and they never had to work like the lower level players have to do now to get where they are...

You're wrong. Just as an example, because I have neither the time, interest or energy for more than that, Nim has been nerfed fire or six times since the game started and you had to fight him alone in the beginning, now you can do all those fights...those nerfed fights, with up to three friends. So again, tell me how it was easier for us higher ranked players?

dramaQkarri

05-14-2014, 02:57 PM

You're wrong. Just as an example, because I have neither the time, interest or energy for more than that, Nim has been nerfed fire or six times since the game started and you had to fight him alone in the beginning, now you can do all those fights...those nerfed fights, with up to three friends. So again, tell me how it was easier for us higher ranked players?

One of MANY examples. Jackleg Joe - nerfed. And we couldn't fight Jackleg Joe OR Nim in a group, ya had to do it ALL ALONE.
The 9th EGO perk slot was not attained until 4K EGO but then they moved it back to where? 1K EGO now? Try playing without those EGO perks sometime.

Many, many changes over the past year have made Defiance a ton easier to play than it was originally.

Odessa

05-14-2014, 04:14 PM

One of MANY examples. Jackleg Joe - nerfed. And we couldn't fight Jackleg Joe OR Nim in a group, ya had to do it ALL ALONE.
The 9th EGO perk slot was not attained until 4K EGO but then they moved it back to where? 1K EGO now? Try playing without those EGO perks sometime.

Many, many changes over the past year have made Defiance a ton easier to play than it was originally.

Agreed. The grind is still there, but it's at LEAST a third less grind to get to 5K and beyond. New XP level cap alone ensures you will be at least 46xx I believe. We capped at 43xx. After that you work on pursuits and level weapons. Weapons took forEVER to level originally. This morning I brought my lower character on with a sawed off and went from level 1 to 10 in just one emergency and the end siege incursion at Kenn Farms. Gotta love Curriers. BMGs + infected = speedy leveling. Before we didn't even get XP for weapon leveling in Arkfalls. Heck! Less enemies in Arkfalls to kill all together.

Sliverbaer

05-14-2014, 04:38 PM

* Removed Threat scaling from open world Rampages and Hotshots, as well as the "End Success" bonus which was making certain events automatically grant gold rewards.

Thank you. Super weapons feel super again!

http://youtu.be/W1r6Ln3fNYo

Note 2 things though:

Shields seem to continue to scale. I'd say keep it as a perk to being higher EGO doing the hotshot. (Like having more perk loadouts and amount of perks available to help)
Timer countdown seems goofy, could have just been me.

Chomis

05-15-2014, 02:52 AM

She had only 1 or no deads, I don't remember now.
But, I think that we've found the problem. Yesterday (after the patch to 1.509) on one of Major Arkfalls she noticed that score next to minimap disappeared few times (sometimes when we travelled between that *minor* arkfalls, sometimes in the middle of fight). When it reappeared it was zeroed, so she lost points and her final score was much lower then it should be (~60k, when she should have easily ~200k). She wasn't leave the area of Arkfall or die a lot (I think that I've was taken down more times on that Arkfall and I had 5th place with >300k points).
What is strange, count of kills, player revives and downs isn't zeroed when it happens. :confused:

Quebra Regra

05-15-2014, 08:44 AM

applause to the team for re-instating proper criticals that bypass armour. :)

dramaQkarri

05-15-2014, 08:50 AM

<snip>Before we didn't even get XP for weapon leveling in Arkfalls. Heck! Less enemies in Arkfalls to kill all together.

OMG forgot about that! It went on for many months before it was changed.

And no one told me for at least a month what that white bar on my weapons was for. I lost so much time on weapon levelling due to being dumb! And NOW the white bar doesn't even matter, you keep getting levels even when you've mastered so you can use the same gun forever like I did last year...but with NO levels.

Odessa

05-15-2014, 12:38 PM

applause to the team for re-instating proper criticals that bypass armour. :)

Iknowright? Doing the Expert map this morning (DSL kept dropping last night as I'm sure you noticed the massive sign ins), all enemies dropped properly. I don't care HOW much armor you have on... getting shot point blank in the face with the SMG is gonna do some damage. Now... it does!

OMG forgot about that! It went on for many months before it was changed.

And no one told me for at least a month what that white bar on my weapons was for. I lost so much time on weapon levelling due to being dumb! And NOW the white bar doesn't even matter, you keep getting levels even when you've mastered so you can use the same gun forever like I did last year...but with NO levels.

Yeppers. No XP AND you were shunned for killing the skitterlings. Now it's MOAR enemies, MOAR XP.

I did the same thing! I kept wondering why my weapon stopped leveling until someone asked what I was looking at. Total *facepalm* moment.

Storm58

05-23-2014, 08:21 AM

So, Defiance Team, are you guys still working on tweaking the TL and difficulty scaling? Or is it staying roughly how it is now?

Really would like to know as this thread hasn't seen attention in a week and the scaling at certain times and places is ridiculous and makes the game more than tasking.

So, what I would like to know, are there changes and hotfixes coming? Do we have to wait until June 4th for anything now? Is nothing else going to happen? Basically, I want to know if I should stop wasting my time hoping for better changes.

Thanks.

N3gativeCr33p

05-23-2014, 08:42 AM

So, what I would like to know, are there changes and hotfixes coming? Do we have to wait until June 4th for anything now? Is nothing else going to happen? Basically, I want to know if I should stop wasting my time hoping for better changes.

Bumping for exposure.

Pandur

05-23-2014, 08:46 AM

So, Defiance Team, are you guys still working on tweaking the TL and difficulty scaling? Or is it staying roughly how it is now?

Really would like to know as this thread hasn't seen attention in a week and the scaling at certain times and places is ridiculous and makes the game more than tasking.

So, what I would like to know, are there changes and hotfixes coming? Do we have to wait until June 4th for anything now? Is nothing else going to happen? Basically, I want to know if I should stop wasting my time hoping for better changes.

Thanks.

I doubt this will get answered but why not put something like this in the May 30 question thread, if it isn't already there.

Z0mb1E

05-23-2014, 09:34 AM

OMG forgot about that! It went on for many months before it was changed.

And no one told me for at least a month what that white bar on my weapons was for. I lost so much time on weapon levelling due to being dumb! And NOW the white bar doesn't even matter, you keep getting levels even when you've mastered so you can use the same gun forever like I did last year...but with NO levels.

And even then, weapon skills now scale on a curve (earlier levels take less XP to achieve), weapons either sucked worse then their current incantation, or were completely broke and OP. I feel the plight of the new folks, but we didn't have it ANY easier earlier in the game, in the beginning, middle, or present state of defiance.

Storm58

05-23-2014, 09:48 AM

I doubt this will get answered but why not put something like this in the May 30 question thread, if it isn't already there.